1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data storage device and a computer-readable storage medium. Specifically, the present invention relates to a data storage device and a computer-readable storage medium by which a storage location for data, such as a file, can be specified by a simple operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A block of data that can be processed by a computer is referred to as “file”, and a location where the file is stored is referred to as “folder”, although “folder” is a term used in certain operating systems and other operating systems use the term “directory” or the like. In the description below, this location where a file is stored is uniformly referred to as “folder” for convenience of explanation.
The number of folders is initially one per drive, and this folder is a special folder referred to as “root” or “root folder”. For example, in a setting where a drive letter is “C”, the route folder is expressed by a character string “C:¥”, and the user or the system manager can create a desired number of folders within the root folder as required. If necessary, they can also create a desired number of folders within these folders in the root folder. That is, the user or the system manager can create a group of folders having a hierarchical structure within the root folder.
As just described, in many cases, a desired number of folders are created in a hierarchical structure. Although the number of layers, or in other words, the depth of the structure varies, the structure can become very deep depending on the purpose and size of the system.
A disadvantage of these folders having a hierarchical structure is that a target file is difficult to find, which becomes more significant when the structure is deeper. For example, in an instance where a target file is stored in a folder in the n-th layer of the C drive, the character string specifying the file is very long, i.e., “C:¥[name of folder 1]¥[name of folder 2]¥[name of folder 3] . . . ¥[name of folder n]¥[name of target file]”.
As a method to easily retrieve a target file from folders having a hierarchical structure, for example, an identifier, such as a two-dimensional code, may be used. As a conventional technology related to two-dimensional codes, there is, for example, “QR CODE (registered trademark) GENERATION DEVICE AND GENERATION METHOD, AND QR CODE (registered trademark) GENERATION SYSTEM” described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) Publication No. 2006-252053.
The QR code (registered trademark) is a type of two-dimensional code that is an expansion of one-dimensional codes such as bar codes, which expresses numbers and characters by a pattern of dots arranged on a horizontal and vertical two-dimensional plane. This QR code (registered trademark) is capable of expressing information amounting to 7,089 numbers, or 1,800 characters including kanji characters. Other two-dimensional codes are PDF417, DataMatrix, MaxiCode (all of them are registered trademarks), etc.
By the use of the two-dimensional code, a target file can be easily retrieved from folders having a hierarchical structure. For example, in the case of the above-described long character string (“C:¥[name of folder 1]¥[name of folder 2]¥[name of folder 3] . . . ¥[name of folder n]¥[name of target file]”), the target file can be easily retrieved by a two-dimensional code expressing this character string being created and then printed or displayed on a display.
Having a function for reading two-dimensional codes, many modern mobile phones can correctly recognize the long character string and easily access the target file, by reading the two-dimensional code shown on printed material or displayed on a display, and analyzing the code information.
As described above, by the use of the conventionally-known two-dimensional code, a target file can be easily retrieved from folders having a hierarchical structure. However, the storing of an arbitrary file in a desired folder, which is the opposite of file retrieval from a folder, cannot be performed.
This is because, whereas “file retrieval” can be easily performed using a browser function that is a standard feature in network terminals such as mobile phones and personal computers, “file storage” cannot be performed solely by a browser function.
Demand for easy “file storage” is high especially among people using a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone in combination with cloud computing. This is because text input is not efficiently performed by mobile phones and therefore accessing folders located deep within the structure is cumbersome.